1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automotive air conditioning system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is an automotive air conditioning system in which air, that has been conditioned or processed by an air conditioning unit disposed at a front part of a vehicle, is directed to a rear seat of the vehicle by providing a rear seat air discharging-assist fan within a rear seat duct (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-18642).
FIG. 3 is an exemplary drawing that shows a typical example of a conventional air conditioning system configuration. Cooled air, resulting from air that has been sent into an automotive air conditioning system by a main blower and which has passed through an evaporator provided in an air conditioning unit 100, is divided into a flow of cooled air (C1) which flows along a front-seat side cooled air flow path 102, a flow of cooled air (C2) which becomes heated air by being heated by a heater core 103 and a flow of cooled air (C3) which flows along a rear-seat side cooled air flow path 104 by means for air mixing doors 111, 112, and a flow of heated air, resulting from the cooled air that has passed through the heater core 103, is then divided into a flow of heated air (H1) which flows along a front-seat side heated air flow path 105 and a flow of heated air (H2) which flows along a rear-seat side heated air flow path 106.
The cooled air (C3) which has flowed through the rear-seat side cooled air flow path 104 and the heated air (H2) which has flowed through the rear-seat side heated air flow path 106 are mixed together within a rear seat duct 107, which is provided below the air conditioning unit 100 in such a manner as to reach from a lower opening 111 to the rear-seat side of the vehicle, is drawn into an inlet 108a of a rear seat air discharging-assist fan 108 and is discharged outwardly from an outlet 108b of the rear seat air discharging-assist fan 108 towards a rear-seat side face opening 109 for a rear-seat side face level area and a rear-seat side foot opening 110 for a rear-seat side foot level area which are both provided at a distal end of the rear seat duct 107.
Note that the rear-seat side face opening 109 and the rear-seat side foot opening are openings to which ducts connecting to a rear-seat side face outlet and a rear-seat side foot outlet, which are both not shown, are connected.
Then, the rear seat air discharging-assist fan 108 is such as to produce, in the air flow that has passed through the air conditioning unit 100, a momentum which has been lost due to a pressure loss occurring during the passage of air through the same unit. By means of the rear seat air discharging-assist fan 108, a sufficient air flow can be provided for the conditioned air that is discharged from the rear-seat side FACE opening 109 and the rear-seat side FOOT opening 110.
In this configuration, as the rear seat air discharging-assist fan 108 is disposed in the rear seat duct 107, there is a problem that the rear seat duct 107 is enlarged, which limits the position where the rear seat duct 107 can be installed on a vehicle floor.